Oil companies currently use tanks and reservoirs to store crude oil or oil products, which will later be processed or transported to other storage locations.
In the course of this use, storage tanks build up sediments from oil or oil products, particularly in their lower sections. These sediments are commonly called “sludges” and, if not removed regularly, reduce the storage capacity of the tank. Furthermore, excess sediments may adversely affect the quality of the oil and oil products.
These sediments are normally removed manually, using shovels and scrapers, more specifically, with spades, buckets or wheelbarrows if necessary. Moreover, a large manual labor force is needed, as these workers must work in the tank all at the same time.
A problem arising from this technique is the fact that workers are exposed to a high level of risk for accidents and pollution.
Furthermore, this technique presents a low level of efficiency, as cleaning activities may take up to around eight months, depending on the size of the tank, resulting in high maintenance costs, due to the large labor force used of some 35 people, in addition to the fact that the equipment remains out of operation for a lengthy period.
Consequently, there is no system constituting the state of the art that removes sediments from storage tanks in a fast and efficient manner and at low cost.